While Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are partly responsible for a resurgence in the popularity of baked goods over the past few years, a bakery in Worplesdon has continued to be in demand for more than 150 years.

The Christmas Bakery, in Rickford, is a family-run business that has spanned five generations, and there is hope a sixth generation will soon take up the baton.

Helen Christmas and Daren Rose-Neale help to run the business, which was founded by James Christmas in 1860 and began life as a grocers, butchers and bakers.

Today, the focus is on baked goods with everything from cakes, bread, pastries and sandwiches freshly made and prepared on site in a bakery attached to the main shop, which often has streams of customers patiently waiting to be served.

A few decades ago, the Surrey Advertiser featured the bakery in an article that concluded with speculation about whether two-week-old Kevin Christmas, Ms Christmas’s brother, would take his place in the family line of bakers.